Mayday
by Andy-qinxin
Summary: "Have a nice flight back to New York", said Dean Porter. And when things go wrong at 38000 feet up in the air, what would come across Olivia Benson's mind in the second before darkness? And how would the aftermath affect the Special Victims Unit? T for safety. Eventual EO happy ending.
1. Heading home

I don't own anything.

Please note that English is not my first language.

The story happens as Olivia is returning to New York after the undercover work in Oregon, early season 8.

Rating is just for safety.

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"Have a nice flight back to New York", said Dean Porter. And when things go wrong at 38000 feet up in the air, what would come across Olivia Benson's mind in the second before darkness? And how would the aftermath affect the Special Victims Unit?

* * *

"Why won't those engines fall off?"

"Cause they are properly attached to the wings."

"But what if the wings fall off?"

"That won't happen either."

"Why?"

"Because the wings are a part of this plane and the connections are real strong."

"So would the plane just break into pieces like a glass?"

"No! That's just not possible."

"What if there's a bomb?"

…

Olivia Benson could feel the headache worsening. And as she thinks about the events since last night, she sighed.

Agent Porter handed her another blue envelope, "have a nice flight back to New York." He said. This time, she knew she needs to get back as soon as possible unless she wanted to cause a mistrial. She opened the envelope to find the flight Porter had booked for her was an early morning one, . 'Probably the first plane to take off from Portland Airport', she thought.

Porter offered to give her a lift to the airport and he showed up at her hotel sharp. Olivia was half asleep at that time. And she hadn't exactly woken up when they arrived at the airport half an hour later.

Then something caused her to sober up fully, and it was not caffeine.

It was the lady behind the check-in counter. "Ms Benson, we have an unaccompanied child on this flight to New York. Is it possible if we arrange the seven-year-old in the seat next to you? No worries, our flight attendants will take him to the seat and take him to his family after the plane landed. All you need to do is pay very little attention during the flight as our flight attendants would also be there." Those were her exact words.

And Olivia said, which she later regretted, "sure."

An hour later as she had boarded the Boeing 737-800, a mid-aged cabin crew took the boy to the aisle seat beside Olivia's window seat.

And since then, the boy, whose name was Thomas, had kept asking questions.

Olivia thought she had caught a break when the plane began to push back at . she assumed Thomas would start focus on the flight itself instead of her, who is deprived of sleep and feeling both worried for the trial and anxious about going back to SVU, more specifically, going back to be the partner of Elliot Staler.

It had been somewhat haunting her, the fact that she was saying his name all night after being hit in the head and passing out, as Hope told her. She had asked herself why a million times in the past few days and got no conclusion. Or maybe she got no conclusion because she kept telling herself "no you cannot have feelings for your partner".

She tried to reason things. Elliot Stabler, her partner, was indeed a good-looking guy. And he sure cared about her, in a partner kind of way. And they trusted each other with their life, just like most partners did. But that was all it is supposed to be. Partners. Oh don't forget, he WAS still married.

No, wait. Elliot was separating with Kathy. So that meant things are OK to change.

The passenger announcement started at that moment.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome abroad United Airlines Flight 1149 from Portland to Newark. This flight would take about five hours and twenty minutes. We are scheduled to land at Newark EST. Right now we are waiting at the end of the runway for a Lufthansa to land before we are cleared to takeoff. Please make sure your seat belts are fastened and we recommend you to keep them that way the entire flight in case of turbulence. On behalf of the entire crew, I would like to thank you for flying with United."

And in that moment Olivia was thankful that the captain interrupted her thought. It was heading in a dangerous direction, she figured.

"What is turbulence?" Asked Thomas.

And Olivia's headache was back. So much for getting some more sleep during the flight.

Wait when was the headache gone in the first place? She tried to think back. Only to realize it was the moment she began thinking about Elliot.

"It's wind in the sky, which would cause the plane to rock a little bit." Still, Olivia Benson was always nice to kids.

"Would it turn the plane upside down?"

"No kiddo. It never gets that strong."

"What if it does?"

"Then the pilots would have known in advance because they have radar on the plane to tell them the weather. And the plane would go a different route to avoid the danger."

Right now the plane is racing down on the runway and they can hear the turbine engines roaring. Thomas asked something else but Olivia didn't hear it. Their seats are a few rows behind the wings, thus making the engine sound extra clear.

The noise didn't weaken as the jet climbs, allowing Olivia's mind to wander once again.

Olivia Benson wasn't afraid of flying. She had never been. And she was having a weird feeling about this flight at the back of her head. She closed her eyes for a bit just to hear the engines running and feel the sense of slightly losing gravity as the plane enters the thick cloud. It's normal. Just like all the other times she had flown.

It must be Thomas. He kept asking about how planes work and what would cause a plane to crash. Olivia was no aviation expert. But she knew that planes are safe.

But she still got a bad feeling.

She almost laughed at herself. The boy had got her paranoid.

But what if the plane was to crash?

Out of the blue Elliot's face popped up in her head. And she didn't know why it almost brought tears to her eyes. She hadn't talk to him in a while. According to Dana Lewis her partner was injured in a blast and she never said goodbye before leaving for Oregon. What if there won't be a goodbye?

In that split second, the plane began to drop.

It felt like slow motion, but Olivia Benson was shouting inside as she heard Thomas scream.

She looked left to the window but saw nothing other than pure white as they were in the clouds.

Then she turned her head to the right, across the young boy, only to find the old man on the other side of the aisle still reading his newspaper as if nothing had happened.

She looked left again, focusing on the wing this time.

And she almost laughed out loud, at her stupidity.

Indeed nothing had happened. Well to be specific, something completely normal took place. The pilots retracted the flaps. A step every plane would take after gaining some attitude. A step that would cause the plane to climb less steeply, but still climbing properly, only that a human being would feel like the aircraft had dropped a bit.

She comforted the terrified boy a bit, explaining to him that things are fine.

And once again thoughts about Elliot engulfed her.

Olivia missed Elliot, no doubt. She missed the feeling of having a partner by her side, fighting the darkest crime together, having each other's back. And she missed those late nights with only the two of them and Chinese takeout in the bullpen, those freezing cold nights they had to stake-out on a suspect in the middle of nowhere, and of course, those nights after a case is closed, them going out for drinks, beer for him and martini for her.

She never denied to herself that she sometimes fantasized about Elliot. Yet she categorized those steamy hot fantasies as partner sexual tension, as she suppose in most male/female partnership would exist.

But what regret would she have if she dies today? Probably it would be Elliot; simply because of the fact that she wanted to see him again.

And what if it's the other way around? How would she feel, if Elliot disappears or even dies suddenly?

She felt heart tighten so much that it almost hurt.

Deep down, Olivia knew that she can't live without him. The problem was, does the same apply for him?

Breakfast was served 45 minutes after takeoff.

Olivia fell asleep against the window even before the flight attendant removed the food tray after she finished her omelets.

When she woke up, lunch is being handed out. Olivia checked her watch, it not even ten o'clock. The plane must be using time at the east coast already, she figured.

Her mood is getting better. It would only take a little more than an hour for her to be home. Home as in NYC, the city she grew up in and the city she loved. And she would go straight to the courthouse after landing; hopefully she can be there before . And after helping Casey nail this rapist, Olivia would go out for drinks with the redhead. Besides celebrating the win at court and sharing the stories she wanted to tell her best friend, Olivia would also need some advice, relationship wise.

The plane began shaking and rocking a bit while everyone is eating. 'It's just turbulence." Olivia told Thomas.

"That's it? It's lame. I thought it would be like roller coaster."The boy laughed.

Olivia put a forkful of pasta in her mouth, not paying attention as the boy began talking about Disney World, Universal Studios and roller coasters.

That's when all hell broke loose.

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AN: The flight number, the airline, the aircraft, take-off and landing time and the airports are all real. I just picked a flight from where Olivia was doing the undercover job to NYC, in the time of a day that I wanna it to be (early morning). Please please note that I have absolutely no disrespect toward this flight or this airline.

The most common economy seat plan for B738 would be 3-3 but it's not the case in this fic. It's just a fic.

You would feel as if you are dropping when flaps are retracted in every plane. But normally if you are flying in a large jet such as 737, it would be just a slight feeling, not enough to cause any panic. I exaggerated in the story.

Or maybe, there's problem with the engines of Olivia's plane, resulting in low thrust-weight ratio, thus making the drop feel more obvious. Wait til next chap to find out. (⊙v⊙)

Please leave a review.


	2. Falling Down

_Thank you for supporting this fic._

_I don't own anything._

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The engine sound was decreasing. And as Olivia looked outside the window, she could see the turbofan engine running slower and slower. Meanwhile it was almost like the plane was making a right turn, with a bit of banking.

The flight attendants, who were still handing out meal at the end of the aisle, had to lean on the back of the seats to keep themselves from losing balance.

As a detective, Olivia sure had quick thinking. She tightened the seatbelt on her waist before glancing to the boy. Only to realize Thomas must have unfastened them sometime during her sleep. She reached down and get Thomas' seatbelt done.

"Hey the seatbelt sign is off! I don't have to be tied to the seat!"

"But…

Before Olivia even got a word out, the plane began its free fall.

All those who weren't strapped down by their seat belts bounced up to the roof. And if you ask Olivia to describe that moment, she would tell you that people were like popcorn, they just popped up.

Food was flying around, not that anyone cared. So did trays and the heavy food cart. A woman screamed as the cart hit her.

The overhead lockers couldn't take the pressure and they opened one by one. Suitcases, duffel bags, shopping bags fall out and hit everywhere, making loud sounds, like a thousand small bombs blowing up at the same time.

The flight attendants, who were had nothing to hold on to, were simply flying around.

It's like the first downhill of a huge roller coaster, just rushing down and down.

Some were screaming at the top of their lungs, some were simply quiet. And Olivia could hear, which she later would find funny actually, was the group of Italian tourists a few rows behind, shouting "Mama Mia!"

Olivia had no idea how long had it been since their falling down, and how much height they still have before hitting the ground, hard. Her ears were hurting like hell because of the sudden air pressure change as if they were about to explode. Thomas was screaming with tears, but Olivia was not in the shape to comfort him. A, she's terrified. B, a million things were going through her mind.

Her life, was it going to be over so soon? There were so many things she hadn't yet accomplished. She hadn't tried skydiving. She hadn't been to Paris. And she hadn't had a family, which she wanted so badly.

There were so many people she would want to say goodbye to. Her best friend Casey, Cragen who was like father to her, Fin who was a big brother to her, Munch who had always made her smile, and Alex, her 'dead" friend. And of course, Elliot.

No doubt he would be sad if she died. But would it be like losing a partner and friend or would it be more than that? She realized she would probably never find out.

Maybe after all those weird thoughts she had earlier, the plane was to crash and she was to die. And there wouldn't be any kind of goodbye. Probably no remains of her would even be found as they are falling from 38000 feet high.

The huge G force was pushing everything upwards. People and stuff were still flying around. The plane was spinning and falling, fast.

She couldn't get a pen out and write a note. Not that a piece of paper can possibly survive the crash anyway.

_Goodbye, Elliot_. She said that in her mind.

Meanwhile in the cockpit, the pilots sure had their hands full.

"My ADI is malfunctioning!" said the captain. The equipment is showing that the plane is upside down and plunging towards the ground with a bank angle that kept changing. That couldn't be right.

"Same with mine and the backup one." That was the first officer.

They both know they are in big trouble. Without ADIs they wouldn't know the position of the plane. And as they were in thick cloud, they would have no chance of knowing where the horizon was.

They pulled hard on the control columns but the plane was not responding at all. It's a competition between two human beings and a 60 ton machine and it seemed the giant plane was winning.

They could hear the air traffic controller asking through the radio, "United 1149, you are now at flight level 31 and descending, please confirm your altitude and flight plan." But the pilots had no time to answer; they were more focused on controlling the plane.

"Restart the engines!" shouted the captain.

"Yes sir."

The whole disaster started when engine No.1 lost thrust. And then it lost more. And then it fully stopped. That's why the plane was banking at first, one engine was working and one wasn't.

What surprised the pilots was that when they disengaged the autopilot, the plane went into a downward spiral.

And to make matters worse, the left engine flamed out soon after.

Until, "Engine No.2 reignited." Said the first officer. There was a bit of joy in his voice. Power, that's what you need to fly.

The captain pushed hard on the rudder panel with his foot and pulled back on yoke harder. With some engine power, the plane is responding.

"Maximum power!"

All of a sudden the plane leveled up, accelerating.

Everyone could feel the attitude of the plane change as the G force changes its direction and pushed people onto their seats. Later reports would show that everyone withstood more than 5G that moment, more than fresh astronaut trainees can take.

Being able to tell up and down was not a good thing at this moment. Olivia was too nervous to throw up. She could hear one engine running, only one of them.

Her mind was running so fast. It was playing a movie to her, a movie of her life. From her childhood, drank mother and no father; to her SVU career, with Elliot. She could see all those small yet important moments in her life, almost killing her mother, graduation from the police academy, first time meeting Elliot Stabler, and Gitano.

How did she manage to deny the fact that she loved him for so long? She remember asking "what about me?" And he said, which broke her heart, "We both chose each other over the job. I'll never let that happen again. Otherwise, we can't be partners."

She didn't pull the trigger. She would never have done that. She would choose Elliot Stabler over the job anytime, in a heartbeat.

He chose her over the boy that day. In his mind he chose Olivia over the job himself. But does that count as love? Well she would never know, would she?

Olivia almost laughed at herself. Why did that even matter anymore? She might die any second and she was still thinking about him loving her or not? How ridiculous! And yet it's sad.

_Let's pretend he loves me. _She thought.

Maybe, thinking of a good thing when heading towards death was not as scary.

Just as sudden as last time, another free fall began.

Everything and everybody that had been pinned on the floor by the G force bounced up again, hitting the roof and stayed there.

This time the plane was spinning clockwise less, but still rotating and heading towards the ground.

You could feel the speed increasing, but the view outside the window was still pure white cloud.

Olivia was amazed when she realized that people was much quieter this time, before she came to notice that she couldn't hear a thing because of the pain in her ear and the enormous sound the plane was making. The sound she had never heard from a plane before, as if car accident after car accident right in front of her face. It sounded like metal ripping apart and hitting each other.

Inside the cockpit, once again the captain was pulling back the stick. Only this time, the first officer was shouting inside the microphone, "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is United 1149, we are going down."

As if to make things worse, a warning light came to life. The captain's voice was desperate when he said "we lost hydraulic system No.3."

They both glanced down at the panel, just to see what they know for sure. The plane was going down so fast that it exceeded what the plane was built to stand. The plane was being ripped apart by the huge force created by its own speed.

As if from afar, Olivia could hear a young boy's voice, asking with pure fear, "Are we going to die?"

She swallowed hard. And without thinking she chose to lie, "No."

A few seconds later, she whispered, "Yes, we are going to die, soon."

* * *

IMPORTANT NOTE:

**The accident is based on the crash landing actress Diane Neal (who played ADA Casey Novak in SVU) experienced herself as she mentioned in a radio interview in 2011. No specific information had I found about this accident as she probably remember at least one of the followings wrong: A) the year it happened; B) the airline; C) if it's an American-built aircraft; D)the fatality number; E) the location. As a result of not being able to find information (on the NTSB site or other popular civil aviation online databases), I had to borrow some of the story from China Airlines Flight 006, based on the Air Crash Investigation episode about it.**

**If you are feeling uncomfortable and not trusting air travel after reading this, I recommend you stop reading and remember that aviation is only becoming safer and safer and that airplane is almost 1000 times less likely to take your life than cars. Statically speaking, you need to be flying 5 times a day for 2000 years to get killed in a crash. And even though there are times pilot error cause accidents, this industry learns from each single incident. What caused a crash long time ago had been made sure that it wouldn't happen again.**

**Send me a private message or review if you still feel scared about planes and as a fan of civil aviation, I'd be happy to answer any questions.**

**Please note I have nothing against United Airlines or this flight route or this aircraft. It's just a fic. **

_Reviews?_


	3. It's not over yet

I'm so sorry that it took that long for me to update.

And finally here is the third chapter.

I don't own anything.

Oh…and let's pretend there's no Dani Beck. I mean, everybody hates her anyway. And there is enough drama here I don't need her, seriously.

* * *

They are still falling. And it must have been more than ten minutes since the initial trouble. How amazing that the plane was flying so high that they were not getting easy and painless death.

This time Olivia had nothing going on her mind. It's blank. She was not thinking about death, her life or Elliot. Maybe she had finally accepted the fact that she was simply dying.

Olivia Benson closed her eyes, swallowed hard. She tried to hold her breath, but failed. The freefall seemed to be going on forever.

Some people were sobbing inside the cabin, while most were quite.

Seconds later something hurt her eye, it was light. Olivia raised her eyelids to look outside the window, realizing they are clear of the cloud now, she could see the ground below.

"That's the horizon!" Shouted the first officer.

"Attitude?" The captain's desperate voice somehow had a tiny bit of hope inside.

"Twelve thousand feet."

There was no more exchange between the pilots. They both knew what should be done. It was there last chance of getting out alive. The trainings they had were just like basic instinct. With the horizon in sight meant they no longer needed the ADIs; and the approaching ground meant they had to take action fast, and hopefully the plane would respond fast enough.

They stepped on the left panel for the rudder and pulled back the yolk in unison.

And it worked. Just like the cockpit simulator would have worked back at the airline's training center.

Passengers could felt the plane level up again, this time more gentle, more in control. And the aircraft stayed that way.

Olivia Benson came back to her senses. She was safe.

_Deep breathe in, and breathe out._

She looked to her left, outside the window, to her surprise the left engine started working again. Running slow at first, the engine gradually picked up and created thrust and noise, which was music to everyone's ear.

The plane had this slight pitch upward at that moment, indicating its climbing higher.

Someone started cheering, while more were in tears, happy tears.

Olivia turned her attention to Thomas, who was so shocked and terrified that he was simply shaking in his seat, hands still tightly holding onto the armrests. Olivia put a hand on his back, "it's going to be ok kid. Don't worry. We are not going to die. It's safe now." Thomas looked up, his big brown eyes staring at something that didn't exist. Olivia sighed and kept her hand on the boy's arm in hope of giving him some strength.

Her line of sight passed the kid, and the view shocked her.

The old man on the other side of the aisle was bleeding on his head; something must have hit him during the chaos.

An older lady in the seat in front of the man was having trouble breathing and she was rubbing her left chest in pain. It occurred to Olivia real soon that she was having a heart attack.

Olivia stood up, walked pass Thomas, toward the lady. But her tracks were blocked when she saw the man laying face down on the aisle. "Sir, are you ok?" She said as she kneeled down beside him. No response. Olivia reached out to feel his carotid artery, only to find her own hand shaking. And there was no pulse. He must had his neck broken hitting somewhere when gravity changed course earlier.

A young blonde flight attendant came, her uniform covered in food and drink, heels nowhere to be seen and silk stockings torn, "Ma'am, please go back to your seat. We got this covered."

And Olivia did.

Still in shock, Olivia watched the flight attendants remove the body, gave the old lady same aspirin and the bleeding man a tower.

Looking around, there were fewer flight attendants than there should have been. Some must had been injured, just like those who didn't have seat belt on. Then it strike her, the body count was no small figure. She could hear the blonde girl asking the athletic young man two rows ahead to help move the bodies.

"We lost hydraulic system No.3, that's about it. Both engines are back. The ADIs are working as well. " Inside the cockpit, the pilots were accessing the damage.

"Don't know the exact damage on the tail, better get down ASAP." Said the captain.

"Alright then." The first officer started calling the air traffic control requesting the nearest airfield to land.

Meanwhile the captain got on the phone with cabin crew, asking about the passengers. And the information made him pale.

"Hey cap I'm heading to Newark now. Liv's flight should arrive soon." Elliot called out as he grabbed his coat. Dean Porter called him early in the morning telling him the flight number and scheduled arrival time of Olivia's plane, which he appreciated a lot.

"Get her straight to the courthouse. Casey only got the continuance til five today." Shouted Cragen towards Stabler's back, as he was already outside the squad room.

In the elevator ride down, Elliot couldn't help but smile. Despite the fact that she just disappeared, and that they would have a lot to talk about, he was thrilled to see his partner and best friend again after months.

He reached into his pocket for the car key, but got his wedding band first. Kathy's lawyer dropped by earlier and gave him the finalized divorce papers. And as soon as he saw the signature on the last page of the file, he took the ring down.

He felt happy when he started driving towards the airport. After more than seven years of being partners, he knew that some beer and martini would guarantee some truthful talk and no more fighting over nothing. They would have each other's back and fight their battle against sex crimes again in no time. And he had missed that.

What he had no idea about, was the events that had happened and would soon happen in the Boeing-737.

"Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. Considering the incident earlier and the fact that our aircraft had sustained some damage to its structure, my co-pilot and I have decided its better if we get ourselves back on ground as soon as possible. So we are diverting to Buffalo. And we will start descending soon. Please stay in your seats and remain your seat belts fasten. Cabin Crew please prepare for landing."

As soon as the announcement ended, some people started cheering while some were unsatisfied. Olivia could hear one of the Italian ladies shouting "You almost killed us and now we are not getting to New York? I'm gonna sue your damn airline!"

Thomas had calm dawn a bit, drinking the last tin of Spite the flight attendant managed to find out from the mess in the galley. "We are landing soon honey. We are safe." Said Olivia.

The boy looked up, "Okay."

"Finish your drink now kiddo."

Thomas took a large sip from the plastic cup, and Olivia poured the rest from the tin for him.

"Is mommy going to know where I am?" Thomas asked.

"I'm sure they will call her, don't worry." And with that it hit Olivia that she probably wouldn't get to the courthouse in time after all. She sighed. Olivia Benson hated letting victims down. And this time, she was disappointing Chelsea.

"Five thousand feet." The first officer called out the attitude.

"Runaway in sight. Visual approach with ALS." The captain announced.

"United 1149, cleared to land at runway 23. Minor crosswind at 09. Proceed at pilots' discretion. Buffalo approach." Airport controller's voice came through the radio.

"Clear to land at 23. Thank you Buffalo approach. United 1149."

"Gear down."

"Gear down." The first officer repeated the order as he pulled the handle. "All three are green."

The captain glanced down at the instruments, everything was normal; including the three green lights indicating the landing gears were properly lowered and locked in place.

"Flaps 40."

"Flaps 40 and we are at two thousand feet."

"Welcome back to earth." The captain was somewhat relieved.

And then it went quite. As if you could hear a needle drop.

Looking at his dashboard again, the captain realized both engines had lost thrust once again. At this very moment, losing thrust means the plane is now a huge glider, with barely any attitude, ready to fall.

He reacted fast, retracted the flaps and the landing gear to reduce the resistance, which would hopefully get the plane a little bit further.

"Why don't we have thrust? We are stalling!" The first officer was panicking.

There was no warning system going on inside the cockpit as it should. Probably because of the setting of the flight control computer was at "landing".

The captain, however, was still calm. He picked up the radio, had it set on "Passenger Announcement", and shouted "Brace position!"

Olivia buried her head between her knees, and called out to Thomas,"get your head down!"

"What?"

In that split second, the 60 ton plane just slammed on the ground, hard.

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**A/N: As I have stated in earlier chapters, this is a fic and I have nothing against the airline or the plane model or the flight. **

**The landing part is from the real life incident of BA38, and if you Google about that accident you'd get some spoiler for the next chapter. However BA38 was a 777 and that's not the case in my fic. Let's just pretend Olivia's plane just had faulty engines ;)**

**I have no idea about the real life flight path from Portland to Newark. I just chose an airport from the map to have Olivia's plane land. It's fictional. But I actually went searching about the runaway information at Buffalo airport. Isn't that dedication? Lol**

**AND ONCE AGAIN I FEEL I HAVE TO STATE THAT PLANES ARE SAFE. DO NOT GET SCARED OF FLYING BECAUSE OF MY STORY. AND FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE CONFUSED ABOUT ANY OF THE AVIATION STUFF I MENTIONED IN THE CHAPTER. **

**In real life pilot/ATC communication, it is indeed required to repeat the information. And most airlines do request their pilots repeat orders. So the captain was not rambling he was doing his job. And even though I had the first officer panic at the end, properly trained real life pilots wouldn't. So again, it's safe to travel by air.**

_**Reviews?**_


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